In defence of paranoid hysteria

Compare a democracy to a dictatorship and world-weary chuckles follow. The last thing a citizen can do in true tyrannies is call them tyrannies. He or she has to pretend that the glorious socialist motherland or virtuous Islamic republic is not only as free as democracies but has a level of freedom that those who rely on universal suffrage and human rights cannot attain. If you are free to call your country a tyranny, then it is almost certainly is not.

In the United States, the politically sophisticated are enjoying themselves immensely as they tear into leftish claims that America is now George Orwell’s all-seeing totalitarian state. To their way of thinking Edward Snowden’s revelations on how the American government is engaged in mass surveillance are less interesting than the hysterical reaction his whistle blowing has provoked.

‘The rule here is simple,’ said Michael C. Moynihan, one of America’s best right-wing journalists, as he dismissed the notion that the United States was Oceania.